Madrid and Amsterdam

So I am kind of late with this but we took a trip to Madrid the first week in Feb. I cannot believe that was a month ago. The time goes by so fast here. My overall impression of Madrid was that is was a pretty city, but definitely not somewhere I would live for a semester. It was smaller than I expected. It was everything that I expected Spain to be like and seemed more authentic than Barcelona which is very globalized and full of tourists. While there we went to the Royal Palace, The Prado Museum which was one of my favorite activities because I got to see the works of famous Spanish artists such as Dali, Miro, Goya, and Valazquez. I enjoyed Dali's works the most because of their surrealist elements. We also went to the Reina Sofia and got to see the famous work by Picasso, Guernica. It was amazing to see all of the works of these artists in person after reading about them in school back in the states. I wish I could have taken pictures but that was strictly forbidden but these two museums are are a definite must in Madrid. We want to go to the famous Kapital but it was too expensive and we were exhausted from the day's activities.I felt like Madrid was more diverse than Barcelona and I did not feel as out of place which was positive. I was extremely cold which made it hard to walk around and explore, so i would suggest going later on in the year.  

We went to Amsterdam the last week in Feb. The city itself was really pretty, kindof like Barcelona. We crammed so many activities into two days since our time was limited. On Fri we went to the Anne Frank House after waiting in line for almost an 1. Being in the house were they hid out gave me a more personal perspective on the Holocaust and I really got to connect with her story while watching the videos and reading the phrases from her diary on the wall. I would suggest going really early or late to avoid the crowds. We also went to the Van Gough museum and saw the famous Starry Night painting which was awesome to see in person and worth the 15 euro entrance fee. I passed on the Heineken Experience because it was too expensive but I heard that it was really fun and they had alot of kool things to see.  We got to take a canal ride which is something I always wanted to do. I didn't expect to see boat houses with people actually living in them. I learned that due to a housing shortage in the past, people asked permission to build and live in boat houses in the canals. That was definitely something very different from our culture. We also went to Zanse Schans, which is about 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam, and saw windmills and went to a clog making factory. It reminded me of Amish country in that their culture was so different and traditional. There were alot of black people in Amsterdam which is something I didn't expect to see and generally alot of diversity.  Also, I learned that everyone in Amsterdam in addition to speaking Dutch also speak fluent English. It felt good to be able to converse in English with someone and actually have them understand and not look at you funny. Our hostel was really close to the Red Light District which made it really easy to explore and do things in the city. I wouldn't suggest Travel Hotel because the hostel was really crappy and everything was falling apart. What made it worse was that my bed was missing a leg, so I had to sleep on a slant for two nights. That definitely was not fun. Overall I enjoyed Amsterdam and was impressed by the city.